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[link removed] [[link removed]] John, this is going to be a long email, but what we have to tell you about Clarence Thomas and his role in an upcoming case is important.
The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America – a case that threatens the funding and the very existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

So here’s the question: Given his central role in the Horatio Alger Association, should Clarence Thomas rule in the CFPB case when so many Horatio Alger Association members want to weaken the CFPB?

The Alger Association’s membership is made up of wealthy and powerful elites who, according to the group’s tax returns, “spread the message that America’s free enterprise system provides the greatest opportunities in the world for personal achievement and success.”

Thomas’s membership has given him access to a group of elites who have showered him with lavish undisclosed gifts. For his part, Thomas granted the Alger Association rare annual private use of the Supreme Court chambers for its new-member induction ceremony — an event that Thomas personally hosts every year.

According to a review of the Alger Association’s members conducted by the Revolving Door Project, at least 18 Alger members have expressed interest in weakening the CFPB and would benefit if the Court ruled to gut the CFPB.

There’s no need to wonder why: The group's membership includes several bank executives whose banks have been fined millions by the agency.

If you support CREW’s work shining a light on Justice Thomas’s scandals please consider making a donation today! → [[link removed]]

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Thomas’s Alger Association colleagues are not his only ethics concern when it comes to the CFPB case. His former law clerk, John Eastman, filed an “anti-CFPB” amicus brief, as did Americans for Prosperity Foundation, an advocacy organization that is one part of Charles and David Koch’s large conservative political network.

Thomas not only has long standing ties to the Koch brothers by virtue of camping together over the years at the all-male Bohemian Grove retreat in Northern California, but ProPublica also reports that Thomas attended at least two Koch donor summits where he was used as a “fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court.” According to former network employees and a major donor, Thomas was brought in to speak “in the hopes that such access” to him “would encourage donors to continue giving” in support of causes funded by the Koch network.

And now, Thomas is poised to rule on the CFPB's existence.

Given these affiliations, there’s a case to be made that Clarence Thomas lacks the requisite impartiality and independence necessary to adjudicate the CFPB case and should recuse from it.

The only problem is, there is NO binding recusal system or ethics code for the court. We’ve been raising the alarm about this for years. Help us continue this important work.

If you support CREW’s work shining a light on Justice Thomas’s scandals please consider making a donation today! → [[link removed]]DONATE → [[link removed]]

John, here are some of the members of the elite Alger society alongside Thomas:

*
Alger
Association
President
Gregory
Abel
is
a
top
executive
at
Berkshire
Hathaway.
In
2022,
the
CFPB
and
Department
of
Justice
secured
a
$22
million
settlement
from
Berkshire
subsidiary
Trident
Mortgage
for
illegally
redlining
majority-minority
neighborhoods
in
Philadelphia.
And
that
wasn’t
even
the
first
time
a
Berkshire
subsidiary
attracted
scrutiny
for
violating
consumer
protection
laws.
*
Alger
member
Tom
Donohue
lobbied
against
the
CFPB’s
creation
in
the
2010
Dodd-Frank
law
and
consistently
supported
exactly
what
the
payday
lenders
argued
to
the
Supreme
Court.
*
Alger
member
Bharat
Masrani
of
TD
Bank
was
fined
over
$97
million
by
the
CFPB
in
2020
for
illegal
overdraft
fees.
*
Alger
member
Brian
Lamb
of
JPMorgan
Chase
was
fined
multiple
times
for
illegal
mortgage
kickbacks,
inaccurate
account
screening,
and
illegal
robo-signing.
*
Alger
member
Josue
Robles
of
USAA
was
fined
over
$15
million
in
2019
for
mishandling
fund
transfers
and
customer
accounts.

Given these connections, can we expect him to be an impartial judge in this case?

Clarence Thomas’s repeated conflicts of interest and failures to recuse himself make it hard to trust his judgment in this case, and make it clear that ethics reform is needed on the Court. This should not be a call that’s up to Thomas alone.

If you agree, help CREW fight to make it happen. Make a donation today to CREW to help us fight to hold Clarence Thomas accountable and for ethics reform on the Supreme Court → [[link removed]]Thank you,

CREW
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